______________________________________________________________________
I do not offer subscriptions to a mailing list! I do not e-mail
images!
______________________________________________________________________
I'm a day late getting this up on the web because I was away from my
computer most of Thursday.
______________________________________________________________________
- WCW had Slamboree on PPV this past Sunday, 05/09/99. Overall, it is
impossible to give this show anything except a thumbs down, as WCW
went from delivering the best PPV of the year in April to delivering a
candidate for the worst show the year. The show opened with a good
match, but other than a bad match that was pretty funny for Ric Flair
fans delivered nothing else of worth, unless you consider one
convoluted screw job after the other to be worth something. Run down:
* Perry Saturn & Raven beat Rey Misterio Jr. & Billy Kidman and
Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko in a triangle match to win the WCW Tag
Titles: At the start of the match, Kidman took a wicked suplex
over the top rope. There were loud "Horsemen Suck!" chants
throughout the match. I keep feeling that they are killing Benoit
& Malenko with this gimmick because a strong Horsemen unit will
only work with a strong Ric Flair heading them up, but they've
made Flair out to be a buffoon in recent weeks. Then again, when
Rocky Maivia was drawing those "Rocky Sucks!" chants that seemed
to be negative heat, it also seemed like he had no chance of ever
getting over. The difference is that the WWF was pretty quick to
repackage Rock. WCW never has an interest in making good on their
investments in talent. Anyhow, in this match you could only tag in
your regular tag team partner. Thank goodness for that rule
change. The last thing we needed was Raven pinning Saturn to win
the Tag Titles. Saturn did a tope. The Horsemen tossed everybody
except Saturn out and then worked over Saturn. This was sort of
cool, with Benoit pounding Saturn while Malenko kept everybody
else out of the ring. The commentators really pushed that the
Horsemen were in charge. Arn Anderson snuck in and hit a
spinebuster on Saturn. Dean cloverleafed Saturn. When Kidman went
up for a shooting star press, Kanyon, wearing a Sting mask,
crotched him. Raven hit the DDT and got the pin, with Saturn still
in the cloverleaf. This was a great opener. If you recall, Saturn
& Raven screwed the Horsemen out of the tag titles because they
figured that Rey & Kidman would be easier to beat. In this match,
then, they beat Kidman & Rey, while the Horsemen dominated and
Dean actually had Saturn beat at the end. It almost made me
believe that things were going to be sensible for two PPVs in a
row. Of course, it went totally downhill from here. Match time was
17:36.
* Konnan beat Stevie Ray: Stevie just sucks. NWO Vince & Horace
interfered freely. Match was just horrible. Rey Misterio Jr. came
out. Vince & Horace collided trying to hit Rey. Rey looked to be
going for a top rope rana spot, Stevie caught him, and Konnan hit
a schoolboy. And boy did it look bad. Match ran 6:00.
* Bam Bam Bigelow beat Brian Nobbs: Nobbs came out to no entrance
music. They said that this hardcore match was under falls count
anywhere rules. Oh man, I think the impossible has occurred: Nobbs
may well be worse than Hak. The commentators laughed at the how
the object shots sounded. After some crap in the ring, they
decided to walk around. They did the "grab the hair and walk
around spot." Man, garbage wrestling sucks. They ended up at a
merchandise stand that seemed to be totally unreachable from the
crowd. That's why WCW isn't making more money. Bigelow was hit
with a ladder and put on a table. He rolled off or fell off the
table before Nobbs overshot an elbow drop from the crowd. It was
just horrible. One guy or maybe both probably suffered some
injuries because of how crappy all of this was, but we were hardly
made to the care about it. Bigelow hit a suplex through the table
and got the pin. They didn't show any replays. Match ran 11:31.
* Rick Steiner beat Booker T to win the TV Title: Rick Steiner is
just horrible now. He has so little to offer. Poor Booker T
couldn't pull a good match out of him, and it wasn't for a lack of
trying. Most of T's stuff was actually pretty good, but working
with Rick Steiner left everything flat. Finally, T hit a missile
dropkick. Scott Steiner came out to distract T. Rick hit a
steinerline for a two count. The Steiners collided, giving T a two
count. T ran off the ropes, with Scott hooking his leg. Rick hit
the bulldog off the top for the pin at 11:10. They played it like
Rick was the unwitting beneficiary of Scott's interference, but
Rick's turn was hardly a well-kept secret. Match wasn't good.
* Gorgeous George beat The Little Nature Boy Charles Robinson: This
match was to determine whether Randy Savage would be reinstated.
I'm not going to bother to discuss how confusing that stipulation
became in the week before this show. This was not a good match,
not by any stretch of the imagination. Each side had a group of
people to help create distractions and make it seem like something
was happening because the in-ring action could hardly carry
interest. In that sense, it struck me like a WWF-booked match.
Even though it wasn't good, Ric Flair fans had to find a lot of it
pretty funny. Like a Paulie Shore movie, it was horrible, but you
couldn't help laughing a few times. Robinson's ring entrance and
the match open were priceless. Nurse Double D has been renamed
"Asya," 'cause, you know, she's bigger than Chyna. Robinson did a
Flair-style interview before the match. He scoop-slammed Miss
Madness on the floor. Madness is Starla Sexton, who actually
trained George for the match. George wore too many clothes to
compete with the WWF women. Finish saw Savage sneak in, Savage low
blow Robinson, and George hit the elbow off the second ropes for
the pin. Match time was 10:54.
* Scott Steiner beat Buff Bagwell: Everybody in the know had to
expect Rick Steiner to interfere and turn heel. Buff attacked.
Steiner hit low blows to rally. Steiner was on offence for several
minutes. A chair became involved, with Scott eventually getting
chaired in a clothesline spot. Buff went on offence. Scott pulled
the referee into a spot, with the referee taking the bump. Cue
brother Rick. He came in and told Buff to go to the top rope. Then
he chaired him and revived the referee. Recliner finished him at
7:12. They destroyed Buff. Who cared? Was this really something
the people wanted to see or will get into seeing? I guess we're
going to see the Steiners vs. T & Bagwell. Whoopie.
* Ric Flair faced Roddy Piper for the presidency of WCW: Piper was
so bad. This was just a horrible match. Jumping ahead, Roddy Piper
put Ric Flair in the figure four, with Flair screaming that he
gave up, but Charles Robinson refused to hear it. Piper then put
Arn Anderson to sleep, Flair partially to sleep, and Asya to
sleep. He also put Herb to sleep. I wish. Flair then knocked out
Piper for the pin. Eric Bischoff came out to announce that we all
knew that Piper had won the match. He declared that Piper was in
charge. Piper thanked Eric and fired Ric Flair. What power does
Eric Bischoff have? It all made no sense whatsoever. The
commentators couldn't explain it. Nobody could explain it. We woke
up and found that WCW "who's in charge" story line in 1999 was all
a dream. Match ran 12:15.
* Sting NC Goldberg: Right off the bat, there was an embarrassing
flub when Goldberg went for a powerslam. They redid the spot.
Sting went after Goldberg's bandaged knee. They screwed up another
move later in the match. Sigh. Sting hit two Stinger splashes. He
went for a third one but Goldberg countered with a spear in a
great spot. Bret Hart came out. He tossed the referee aside,
chaired Goldberg, chaired Goldberg's knee, and walked off. That
would have been absolutely awesome on Nitro, but it sucked huge on
a PPV. They should have done a time limit draw match, even if it
was just 20 minutes, or they could have come up with a double
knock-out style finish, and then promised a rematch on Nitro the
next night (okay, eight nights later). Then they could have Bret
Hart interfere in the match. The Steiners came out to attack Sting
& Goldberg, so I guess they were setting up another tag match. At
this point I was totally depressed that the best ideas in the WCW
backroom are bringing back Randy Savage & Roddy Piper and pushing
the Steiners as a team again. There's just no vision for the
future. And, no, the future shouldn't involve pushing Nash, Sting,
or Lex Luger ahead of everybody else either. Match time was 8:17.
* Kevin Nash beat Diamond Dallas Page to win the WCW Title: Bland
match, hardly worthy of main event status. Better than a Hogan
main event, either current or from the WWF Hogan era, but still
pretty weak. DDP hit low blows to go on offence. He pulled out
clippers and cut away the top turnbuckle. He used the mircophone
as an object and got a two count. DDP hit the Diamond Cutter
outside the ring, with the referee telling them to get back in the
ring as Page screamed that he thought the match was falls
anywhere. He got a two count in the ring, with his feet on the
ropes. DDP wrapped Nash's legs around the post and tried for the
figure four, but Nash kicked him off. A fight broke out in the
stands and everybody looked away. It's a telling sign that the
entire crowd would find something like that more interesting than
a world title match supposedly involving two of the most over
wrestlers in the promotion. Nash rallied with his lame offence:
snake eyes on the exposed turnbuckle, foot to the face, jackknife.
Randy Savage came in, getting a DQ. Savage belted Nash. Eric
Bischoff came out to announce that "this match will continue to a
finish." DDP put on a weird sleeper, which was countered with a
sleeper, which was countered with a jawbreaker for a two count.
Page grabbed a chair, but ended up chairing himself thanks to the
top rope. Nash went for the chair, but DDP low blowed him. Nash
hit the foot to the chair to DDP's face. He pulled down his
shoulder strap. Oh boy, Jerry Lawler time. He hit the jackknife
for the pin. 18:24. I found it pretty excruciating to sit through.
As the show went off the air, Viewer's Choice Canada rolled an ad for
the WWF's Over the Edge. Total bell-to-bell time was 1:42:19.
RAW RAW on 05/10/99 was a packed show, going unopposed and no doubt
setting ratings records. By "packed," I of course mean that the show
had a lot of hot shot matches announced, none of which were any good
or delivered anything.
The show opened with Vince McMahon walking around with the Union
members. That didn't take long. WWF story lines are almost always on
fast forward. First match was Kane vs. Billy Gunn. We are supposed to
think that Gunn is the most-skilled wrestler in the WWF this week, but
I'm still not buying what they're selling (or in many WWF wrestlers'
cases, not selling). Of course, X-Pac & Road Dogg came out. Dogg &
Gunn ended up brawling in an uninspired scene. Match ran 5:09, with no
decision announced. Afterwards, D'Lo Brown & Mark Henry ran out to
attack Kane & X-Pac, so I guess we've got a tag title match upcoming.
The Union came out to their own music, so we didn't have to hear Big
Slow's music. The Corporate Ministry came out too. Before they could
really get into a confrontation, Shawn Michaels came up on the
Titantron. He announced a whole slew of matches for the night that I
won't bother to run through, since we'll be reading about them in a
second. The kicker was a six man with Vince & Shane on opposing sides,
with Shawn Michaels announcing himself as the special referee. The
announcement of the matches was taped, you see, and Shawn was actually
in the ring as a security goon. I guess this means that Shawn is now
working with Vince.
Second match was Big Show vs. Paul Bearer. Match lasted maybe three
minutes, with Undertaker coming out and hanging around ringside and
the Corporate Ministry running to lay out Big Slow, who lived up to
his name. The Union made the save.
Sable faced Debra in an evening gown match for the WWF Women's title.
What a ridiculous match. This title has credibility. Why not just call
it the WWF Puppies title. Sable wasn't even wearing a gown. She
attacked Debra, ripping her dress off at the 50 second mark. Jeff
Jarrett and Val Venis came out to do a guitar shot spot. Shawn
Michaels entered the ring to announce that the winner of this evening
gown match was the first woman stripped, so Debra became the new
champion. I hope nobody has the nerve to complain that we now have a
champion who can't wrestle. Like Sable could.
Test faced Big Boss Man in a nightstick on a pole match. Oh man, this
was bad. Test sucks. He got the nightstick. But, oh, Boss Man had
another weapon, used it, and ended up with the nightstick. When Test
went for a sunset flip, Boss Man whacked him with the stick for the
pin at 7:02.
Midian & Viscera faced Cactus Jack in a hardcore match. Jack came out
with two basketballs, totally missed hitting the heels with the balls.
They did some garbagy stuff. Viscera is worse than Midian; both of
them might be worse than Debra. Wouldn't you like to see Cactus Jack
vs. Debra in a hardcore match? That might be the WWF in 2000. Really
bad match. Poor Jack. He ended up hitting the elbow on the chair on
Visera for the pin at 4:36. Some guy came out to get the basketballs
while the wrestlers were leaving. It seemed pretty important that he
got all over the shot of the wrestlers on the ramp.
Justin Bradshaw faced Faarooq in a battle of the Acolytes. Match was
horrible, although Faarooq seemed a little better than usual (that is
not praise). This was a lumberjack match with the Union as
lumberjacks. Jim Ross proved that RAW is WAR is not an action
adventure series by saying that the Acolytes are one of the best tag
teams in the industry. See, the show is a comedy! They ended up
punching each other, with Midian & Viscera coming out, no worse for
the wear after the sort of match that the commentators always tell us
will never leave the participants the same, to break up the brawl.
Afterwards, Viscera was stuck in the ring with Union surrounding him.
He did a crappy scream of fear before taking one of the most mistimed
bumps off a 2x4 shot we've ever seen. Match went 2:38.
Pat Patterson & Jerry Brisco faced the Mean Street Posse in a loser
leaves the WWF match. Like we believe that stipulation, right Sable?
Before the match, Pat & Jerry talked about who they had beaten, with
Jerry saying he had also beaten Ric Flair and doing a "Woooo!" When
they came out for the match, Hulk Hogan's Real American music played
and the totally imitated him. It was as funny as Charles Robinson's
performance the night before. And the match was as bad. They got a
double submission at 2:09. Thank goodness that two nonwrestlers are
history with the WWF. How many does that leave?
Jeff Jarrett faced Val Venis. Match had okay moments. The crowd was
more into the puppies at ringside. Venis could have hit the money
shot, but instead opted to get a closer look at the puppies. The crowd
seemed to understand. Jarrett used the women's title belt as a weapon
to whack Venis for the pin at 8:01.
Chyna faced Ken Shamrock. The idea was that Ken Shamrock is a chump
because he didn't want to fight a woman, even one as manly as Chyna.
WWF fans won't get into that manly attitude. They wanted him to rip
her top off. No match took place. After being provoked, Shamrock
snapped and suplexed Chyna before running off in anger over what he
had done. Yeah.
Hunter Hearst Helmsley & Undertaker & Shane McMahon faced Rocky Maivia
& Steve Austin & Vince McMahon with Shawn Michaels as referee. Match
was okay, largely because it was really heated. Mostly brawling. It
ended the way it should, after teasing a few finishes involving the
wrestlers. The wrestlers ended up outside the ring, with Shane & Vince
in the ring. Austin snuck back in and stunned Shane. Vince went for
the cover. Austin pulled him off, stunned Shane again, and took the
pin. Austin & Michaels drank a beer. There wasn't an opening bell, but
the match ran roughly 4:51.
Tally time: a new record of bell-to-bell wrestling for RAW, with 38:56
of that action. Isn't it funny that the week they are unopposed they
change their formula to the point where they have almost twice as much
wrestling as a typical RAW show? During the show, they also aired a
vignette of Steve Blackman, who is being repackaged as a heel for his
return.
Nitro Nitro was preempted this week, as was Thunder. And wasn't it a
welcome break? I know they mentioned that neither show was on this
week during the commentary on WCW Saturday Night, but I don't remember
it being mentioned on Nitro or Thunder last week. Better yet, the
local TV guide still listed it on TSN. Sure enough, TSN did air a
short "Best of Nitro" show, copyrighted 1998, featuring loads of Hulk
Hogan matches and including the Eric Bischoff vs. Jay Leno angle.
Thinking that this junk has anything to do with the "best" of Nitro
indicates that there's a huge problem, just in case anybody thought
that there wasn't a problem.
- The WWF has Over The Edge on 05/23/99. Tentative line-up has
* Undertaker vs. Steve Austin
* Rocky Maivia vs. Hunter Hearst Helmlsey
- The Toronto Sun, a tabloid-style newspaper that usually has a lot of
wrestling content when the WWF or WCW are in Toronto, had a column in
yesterday's paper that was weird. A woman named Rose Rosetree has
developed a reputation as a "face reader," using ideas from Chinese
philosophy. So the Sun sent her pictures of Canadian personalities to
analyze. Well, they also included a picture of Sable. The report?
"Chiselled overlip. Small, delicate chin. Area two of her face
[eyebrows to bottom of nose] dominates. In her case, the smile shows
she's carrying a lot of inner anger, notes Rosetree. Sable, she adds,
has tremendous sex appeal. `When she goes by, heads swivel and the
juices get stirred up.' She says Stable is ambitious, craves fame and
fortune and takes criticism hard."
- Steve Austin was on Howard Stern this morning to hype his appearance
on the Nash Bridges season finale and the upcoming Over the Edge PPV.
He mentioned that his divorce from Jeannie is finalized.
- PPV buy rates, revenue (in millions), and match statistics for the
WWF, WCW, and ECW are presented in the following 1998 summary sheet
(the PPV draw(s) are listed, as well as the quality matches):
Show Data Match Rating Data
Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
WWF
99/04/25: Backlash
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 1.06 $5.09 2.28 * * 1/4 * * * * 1/4
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 12.5%
(1 of 8)
99/03/28: WrestleMania
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 2.3 $12.04 1.13 * 1/4 * * * 1/2
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0%
(0 of 9, no shoot)
99/02/14: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 1.2 $5.33 1.28 * 1/4 * * * 3/4
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0%
(0 of 8)
99/01/24: Royal Rumble
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia
Royal Rumble 1.57 $6.97 1.83 * 1/2 * * * 3/4
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0%
(0 of 6)
Last 6 1.39 $6.56 1.43 1.38 3.58 1.9%
(1 of 53)
1999 1.53 $7.36 1.61 1.56 3.81 3.2%
(1 of 31)
1998 1.02 $4.42 1.60 1.63 3.65 4.0%
(4 of 101)
Show Data Match Rating Data
Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
WCW
99/04/11: Spring Stampede
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting 0.6 2.86
2.31 * * 1/2 * * * * 1/4
Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg 11.1%
(1 of 9)
99/03/14: Uncensored
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 0.73 $3.48 1.83 * * * * * 1/2
Billy Kidman vs. Mikey Whippreck 0%
(0 of 9)
99/02/21: SuperBrawl
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 1.1 $5.27 1.89 * * 1/2 * * * 1/4
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Kevin Nash
Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page 0%
(0 of 9)
99/01/17: Souled Out
Bill Goldberg vs. Scott Hall
Ric Flair & David Flair vs. Curt Hennig & Barry Windham 0.78 $3.64
1.83 * 1/2 * * * *
Billy Kidman vs. Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis
11.1%
(1 of 9)
Last 6 0.82 $3.8 1.88 2 3.88 5.8%
(3 of 52)
1999 0.8 $3.81 1.97 2.13 3.75 5.6%
(2 of 36)
1998 0.93 $3.96 1.54 1.73 3.73 4.5%
(5 of 111)
Show Data Match Rating Data
Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
ECW
99/01/10: Guilty As Charged
Shane Douglas vs. Taz 0.2 $0.42 1.68 * * 1/2 * * * 1/2
Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy 0.0%
(0 of 7)
Last 6 0.22 $0.42 1.93 2 3.42 5.3%
(1 of 19)
1999 0.2 $0.42 1.68 2.5 3.5 0.0%
(0 of 7)
1998 0.23 $0.43 1.56 1.5 3.00 3.7%
(1 of 27)
Longer-term data is available. The data now runs back to 1991.
A table of wrestlers who have delivered quality matches is also
online.
- The WWF has King of the Ring on 06/27/99.
- The WWF has In Your House on 07/25/99.
- Videos: I have posted something about the availability of videos. If
you missed it, I'll send it to you in e-mail upon request.
______________________________________________________________________
Thanks to: Masaki Aso.
______________________________________________________________________
If you have any feedback regarding my web pages, please send me
e-mail. Don't forget to delete the leading "x" from my e-mail address;
that "x" is my web spider spam guard.
______________________________________________________________________